EDMONTON — Rain replaced snow, but the result stayed the same for Canada at Commonwealth Stadium. Jonathan Osorio broke a scoreless tie in the 58th minute and Jayden Nelson added an insurance goal deep in stoppage time to secure a 2-0 win over Uzbekistan in the first of two pre-World Cup tune-ups.
The match offered a stark contrast to Canada's last visit here in November 2021, when bitter cold and a frozen pitch made football something of a misnomer. This time, the weather cooperated enough for actual play — the stadium was waterlogged after two days of heavy rain, but the temperature hovered near 11 Celsius, a 20-degree improvement from that -9 showing three winters ago.
The matchup already has enough history; the job is to keep the reading list shorter than the tension.
Tani Oluwaseyi set up the opener, feeding Osorio a clean look from outside the right side of the box. The midfielder's shot beat keeper Abduvohid Nematov. Nelson closed things out in the first minute of stoppage time, chipping the ball over Nematov from close range.
First half belonged to the visitors
Uzbekistan carried the better scoring threats before the break. Eldor Shomurodov had three genuine chances but could not convert — including a sixth-minute chip over Maxime Crepeau that drifted wide of the net. Crepeau came up big in the 26th and 43rd minutes to keep the match level.
Canada enjoyed a possession edge early but couldn't solve Uzbekistan's five-man defensive structure. The hosts generated precious little until the second half, when fresh legs and a more aggressive approach finally cracked the resistance.
The attendance of 46,164 marginally outdrew the 44,000-plus who showed up in 2021. That two-year gap between Edmonton matches says something about how seldom this national team gets this kind of showcase.
What's next
Canada travels to Montreal to face Ireland on Friday in the final pre-tournament friendly. From there, it's straight into the World Cup, where Canada opens Group B play on June 12 against Switzerland, Qatar, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.